Bio Zombie – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1998
Director: Wilson Yip
Writers: Matt Chow, Man Sing So, Wilson Yip
Cast: Jordan Chan, Sam Lee, Emotion Cheung, Angela Tong, Suk-Mui Tam, Yiu-Cheung Lai, Tat-Wah Lok, Frankie Chan

Release Date: February 14th, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 94 Minutes 39 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Stereo Cantonese, DTS-HD Stereo Mandarin
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $42.98

"Invincible and Bee are two wannabe gangsters who spend their days hanging around the mall selling bootleg DVDs. When they aren't committing petty crimes and trying to pick up girls, the two hoodlums run errands for their low level Triad boss. When one of these errands involves them picking up their boss's car from the mechanic, things take a turn for the two delinquents when they accidentally hit a man walking in the middle of the road. Trying to hide their crime, Invincible and Bee bring the man's body to the mall in order to figure out their next move. Little do they know that the man has been infected with an experimental bio-weapon that has turned him into a zombie. When the man's corpse doesn't stay put, it's only a matter of time before the victims start piling up and the mall soon becomes overrun by a zombie horde trapping a group of shoppers inside. Will Invincible and Bee step up to become heroes and save the day or will their slacker nature get the best of them dooming all inside?" - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "Studio supplied master with additional restoration performed by VS."

Bio Zombie comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 35.1 GB

Feature: 27.4 GB

The source used for this transfer is in excellent shape. Colors, image clarity, black levels, and compression are solid. That said, the opening credits are not representative of what the rest of this transfer looks like. The extras provide details about the opening credits.

Audio: 4.5/5 (DTS-HD Stereo Cantonese)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD stereo mix in Cantonese and a DTS-HD stereo mix in Mandarin. For this review, I only listened to the Cantonese language track since it has English subtitles. The Cantonese language track is in great shape; dialog comes through clearly, and everything sounds balanced and robust when it should. Included are removable English subtitles and removable English SDH subtitles for the Cantonese language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include an alternate ending (3 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with director Wilson Yip titled Bio Zombie (18 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Chinese with removable English subtitles), a video essay by film historian Chris O’Neill titled Video Games, Contaminated Lucozade and Human Sushi (12 minutes 37 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH subtitles), an audio commentary with film historian Frank Djeng, reversible cover art, and a spot gloss slipcover (limited to 6,000 units), and a twenty page booklet with an essay titled Going to the Mall: Shopping and Chopping with Hong Kong’s Bio Zombie written by Rod Lott, and an essay titled At the Arcade: A Photo Essay Inspired by Bio Zombie written by Ariel Esteban Cayer.

Summary:

Bio Zombie was directed by Wilson Yip, who is most known for directing these martial arts films: Kill Zone, Flash Point, and the first four IP Man films.

Though zombie films are the most underrepresented sub-genre of films in Hong Kong. With the most notable Hong Kong zombie film being Bio Zombie, a film that draws inspiration from two seminal horror films, Dawn of the Dead and The Evil Dead,

Content-wise, Bio Zombie is a film that has two distinctive halves. The first half establishes who everyone is, while the latter half is a full-on horror film as the zombies come out in force. Tone-wise, these two halves could not be further apart. The first half is overflowing with humor, while the latter half takes on a darker tone. That said, despite this shift in tone, there is still some humor in the latter half.

The most surprising aspect of Bio Zombie are the performances. The entire cast is all very good in their roles, which are overflowing with enthusiasm. That said, Bio Zombie’s greatest asset are the performances.

From a production standpoint, there is no area where Bio Zombie disappoints. The premise is well-executed, a brisk narrative keeps things moving forward, and the ending serves as a perfect coda to the events that preceded. Also, there is a sufficient amount of gore and gut munching. Ultimately, Bio Zombie is a highly entertaining horror/comedy hybrid that leans more towards the latter.

Bio Zombie gets an excellent release from Vinegar Syndrome that comes with a solid audio/video presentation and insightful extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer